I pose the question becasue everyone seems to think Prince ought to be releasing exclusive CDs, soundboard recordings, etc. There must b a cost/benefit analysis that is causing him to NOT pull the trigger on this sort of effort...

I often tease that I would simply have to have the Camille project -- but that's not true, 'cause I have the Camille project -- on b-sides and other albums. I use Camille as an example of a project that WB/Prince killed that is somewhat intriguing to many hardcore fans (or at least to me).

I would make the following wager: the EMPTYROOM download sent out earlier is an attempt to gauge the response that an "official" Prince release from his back catalog will generate -- both from his hardcore fans (defined necessarily by their membership in the NPGMC), and by casual fans -- folks whom by ip address are not associated with the club that actually find the link, and maybe by how many people download this file from file-sharing programs that are out there.

Just a little money per CD. Depending on artwork, packaging and format (single CD, 2CD, etc) it's just a few bucks per 'set'.

udo

It can be as cheap as $3.00 per CD, that includes case and cover.

Prince is not the only person selling his music independently, and by no means the first. There's tons of local bands who have been distributing their music for years, and they don't have millions in the bank to cover their projects.

Shoot, even the bootleggers can afford to press tons of CDs a year. Their prices aren't much different from what NPGMC is getting from you these days.

"Xpert Lovers"?

Prince is an artist, and it's hard to know with certainty what does or does not motivate him to release his music. Obviously he is motivated by money, but that is certainly not the only motivator. I think ONA Live proves that because it definitely would've been much more profitable for Prince to release the Hit N' Run tour than ONA Live. But regardless, with any release, there is obviously a cost associated with that release, and that cost must or at least should be taken into consideration.

But, from a fans point of view, it's really very hard to deal with knowing that there are so many unreleased songs that are only available through bootleggers. With the NPGMC, one would think that it would be very easy for Prince to gauge response to a "Crystal Ball II" type project. If prince doesn't have the time or desire to sift through his back catalog then the project could be as simple as asking fans what they would like to have, and then throw in a few extras that no one has ever heard of. And for those of you who will say that not all fans have or know of these various bootlegs, trust me, there's enough members out there that DO know of some of the vault material to at least give Prince a starting point and something to work with in terms of making the final cut.

In my opinion, the release of vault material should not be about trying to sell a million copies, but rather to simply satisfy the die-hard fan's insatiable desire for Prince's music. But right now, it seems that Prince is intent upon turning every release into a "major" release. And at that rate, Prince will never "pull the trigger" or release the valve on his vault material. But with that being said, I've said this before and I'll say it again. For all we know, most of the music that we've heard from Prince over the past few years could've been the result of revived vault material that was deeply buried. One Night Alone (studio) could very easily have been buried and re-recorded, same with Xenophobia and Xpectation. Hell, even most of The Rainbow Children could've been buried in the vault. The music is timeless. There's simply no way to know for sure.

Xpertlover said:

Expert = People with expertise re: subject matter
Lover = Prince fan(atics)

XpertLover, would you pay for the song "Xpert Lover," which from what I have heard and read is simply a different working of the song "Crystal Ball" (which you no doubt already own)... this is the crux of my question?

FutureShock said:

well said FutureShock... but the unknown quality is still intriguing.

Agree. But I think there is enough bootleg material available to at least substantiate the fact that there is indeed a vault, and that the vault does in fact have some really good quality stuff in it. But I think the bottom line is that Prince probably just isn't too interested in distributing work that he may have done 10 or 15 or 20 years ago. I think his attention is simply focused on whatever new project he's working on and not the past.